fhe was never to be feen. There is a kind of anxious cleanliness which I have always noted as the characteriftick of a flattern; it is the fuperfluous fcrupulofity of guilt, dreading discovery, and fhunning fufpicion: it is the violence of an effort against habit, which being impelled by external motives, cannot stop at the middle point.

Nitella was always tricked out rather with nicety than elegance; and feldom could forbear to difcover, by her uneasiness and constraint, that her attention was burdened, and her imagination engroffed: I therefore concluded, that being only occafionally and ambitiously dreffed, fhe was not familiarized to her own ornaments. There are fo many competitors for the fame of cleanlinefs, that it is not hard to gain information of thofe that fail, from thofe that defire to excel: I quickly found, that Nitella paffed her time between finery and dirt; and was always in a wrapper, nightcap, and flippers, when he was not decorated for immediate fhew.

I was then led by my evil deftiny to Charybdis, who never neglected an opportunity of feizing a new prey when it came within her reach. I thought my felf quickly made happy by permiffion to attend her to publick places; and pleafed my own vanity with imagining the envy which I fhould raife in a thoufand hearts, by appearing as the acknowledged favourite of Charybdis. She foon after hinted her intention to take a ramble for a fortnight, into a part of the kingdom which fhe had never feen. I folicited the happiness of accompanying her, which, after a short reluctance, was indulged me. She had no other curiofity in her journey, than after all poffible means of expence;

expence; and was every moment taking occafion to mention fome delicacy, which I knew it my duty upon fuch notices to procure.

After our return, being now more familiar, fhe told me, whenever we met, of fome new diverfion; at night she had notice of a charming company that would breakfast in the gardens; and in the morning had been informed of fome new fong in the opera, fome new dress at the playhouse, or fome performer at a concert whom the longed to hear. Her intelligence was fuch, that there never was a fhew, to which the did not fummon me on the fecond day; and as the hated a crowd, and could not go alone, I was obliged to attend at fome intermediate hour, and pay the price of a whole company. When we paffed the streets, fhe was often charmed with fome trinket in the toyshops; and from moderate defires of feals and fnuff-boxes, rofe, by degrees, to gold and diamonds. I now began to find the smile of Charybdis too coftly for a private purse, and added one more to fix and forty lovers, whofe fortune and patience her rapacity had exhaufted.

Imperia then took poffeffion of my affections; but kept them only for a fhort time. She had newly inherited a large fortune, and having spent the early part of her life in the perufal of romances, brought with her into the gay world all the pride of Cleopatra; expected nothing lefs than vows, altars, and facrifices; and thought her charms' difhonoured, and her power infringed, by the fofteft oppofition to her fentiments, or the finalleft tranfgreffion of her commands. Time might indeed cure this fpecies of pride in a mind not naturally undifcerning, and vi

tiated only by falfe reprefentations; but the operations of time are flow; and I therefore left her to grow wife at leifure, or to continue in error at her own expence.

Thus I have hitherto, in fpite of myfelf, paffed my life in frozen celibacy. My friends, indeed, often tell me, that I flatter my imagination with higher hopes than human nature can gratify; that I drefs up an ideal charmer in all the radiance of perfection, and then enter the world to look for the fame excellence in corporeal beauty. But furely, Mr. RAMBLER, it is not madness to hope for fome terrestrial lady unftained with the fpots which I have been defcribing; at least I am refolved to purfue my fearch; for I am fo far from thinking meanly of marriage, that I believe it able to afford the highest happiness decreed to our prefent ftate; and if after all thefe mifcarriages I find a woman that fills up my expectation, you fhall hear once more from,

Yours, &c.

HYMENÆUS,

NUMB. 116. SATURDAY, April 27, 1751.

Optat ephippia bos; piger optat arare caballus.

Thus the flow ox wou'd gaudy trappings claim;
The fprightly horfe wou'd plough—

HOR.

FRANCIS.

To the RAMBLER.

I

SIR,

WAS the fecond fon of a country gentleman by the daughter of a wealthy citizen of London. My father having by his marriage freed the eftate from a heavy mortgage, and paid his fifters their portions, thought himself discharged from all obligation to further thought, and entitled to spend the reft of his life in rural pleasures. He therefore fpared nothing that might contribute to the completion of his felicity; he procured the beft guns and horfes that the kingdom could fupply, paid large falaries to his groom and huntfman, and became the envy of the country for the discipline of his hounds. But above all his other attainments, he was eminent for a breed of pointers and fetting-dogs, which by long and vigilant cultivation he had fo much improved, that not a partridge or heathcock could reft in fecurity, and game of whatever fpecies that dared to light upon his manor, was beaten down by his fhot, or covered with his nets.

My elder brother was very early initiated in the chace, and at an age when other boys are creeping like fnails unwillingly to fchool, he could wind the horn,

bear

beat the bushes, bound over hedges, and fwim rivers. When the huntfinan one day broke his leg, he fupplied his place with equal abilities, and came home with the fcut in his hat, amidst the acclamations of the whole village. I being either delicate or timorous, lefs defirous of honour, or lefs capable of fylvan heroifin, was always the favourite of my mother; because I kept my coat clean, and my complexion free from freckles, and did not come home like my brother mired and tanned, nor carry corn in my hat to the horse, nor bring dirty curs into the parlour.

My mother had not been taught to amufe herfelf with books, and being much inclined to defpife the ignorance and barbarity of the country ladies, dif dained to learn their fentiments or converfation, and had made no addition to the notions which fhe had brought from the precincts of Cornbill. She was, therefore, always recounting the glories of the city; enumerating the fucceffion of mayors; celebrating the magnificence of the banquets at Guildhall; and relating the civilities paid her at the companies feafts by men of whom fome are now made aldermen, fome have fined for fheriffs, and none are worth lefs than forty thousand pounds. She frequently displayed her father's greatnefs; told of the large bills which he had paid at fight; of the fums for which his word would pafs upon the Exchange; the heaps of gold which he used on Saturday night to tofs about with a fhovel; the extent of his warehoufe, and the strength of his doors; and when the relaxed her imagination with lower fubjects, defcribed the furniture of their country-house, or repeated the wit of the clerks and porters.

By